Anthesteria

Anthesteria, one of the several Athenian festivals in honour of Dionysus, the wine god, held annually for three days in the month of Anthesterion (February–March) to celebrate the beginning of spring and the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage. On the first day (Pithoigia, or “Jar Opening”) libations were offered to Dionysus from the newly opened casks. The second day (Choes, or “Wine Jugs”) was a time of popular merrymaking typified by wine-drinking contests in which even slaves and children participated; but the state performed a secret ceremony in a sanctuary of Dionysus in the Lenaeum, in which the wife of the king archon went through a ceremony of marriage to Dionysus. The fullest description, which omits many details, is found in Apollodorus’s speech “Against Neaera.” On these days, it was believed, the souls of the dead came up from the underworld and walked abroad; people chewed leaves of whitethorn and smeared their doors with tar to protect themselves from evil. The third day (Chytroi, or “Pots”) was a festival of the dead, for which, apparently, pots of seed or bran were offered to the dead.

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in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. The occurrence of his name on a Linear B tablet (13th century bce) shows that he was already worshipped in the Mycenaean period, although it is not known where his cult originated....

...out on “the sacred grass,” and the ancestors were invited to ascend from their subterranean abode to partake of it and to bless their pious descendants. A similar ceremony, called the Anthesteria, was held in ancient Athens. On the day concerned, the souls of the dead (kēres) were believed to leave their tombs and revisit their former homes, where food was prepared...

...the sea (Nereids). They also believed in nature spirits such as satyrs and sileni and equine Centaurs. Among the more-popular festivals were the rural Dionysia, which included a phallus pole; the Anthesteria, when new wine was broached and offerings were made to the dead; the Thalysia, a harvest celebration; the Thargelia, when a scapegoat (pharmakos)...